Portable hunting tree stands are well known in the art, and have met with widespread commercial success in the marketplace. These types of portable hunting tree stands are often sold through sporting goods retail establishments, and through mail order via sporting goods catalogs.
Portable tree stands allow a hunter to gain a vantage point for the purposes of better viewing his surroundings by perching atop the stand which is removably secured to a tree trunk. Furthermore, these types of stands do not limit a hunter to a specific hunting location, as do fixed, or permanent hunting stands or blinds.
Typically, a portable tree stand comprises a platform, a seat, and one or more frame members which connect the seat to the platform. Ordinarily these frame members are collapsible to allow the platform and seat to be folded into a compact configuration for transportation.
At the upper end of the stand, usually adjacent the seat, there is a chain or strap used to encircle the trunk of a tree. At the rearwardmost edge of the platform one or more frame members have, for example, sharpened ends which will embed in or otherwise grip a tree trunk. When such a stand is secured to a tree trunk with the above-mentioned strap or chain, and when a hunter is either standing on the platform or seated atop the seat, the moment or couple generated by the weight of the hunter offset from the trunk of the tree causes the rear edge of the platform to "bite" into the trunk, while the stand is prevented from rotating due to the strap or chain being secured to the trunk. In this manner the stand remains secured to the tree trunk. The portable stand may merely be separated from the tree trunk, and packed to another location for securement to another tree trunk, as desired.
Portable hunting tree stands have met with especially widespread success among bow hunters. Due to the nature of bow hunting, the equipment dictates that shots be taken at game usually in the range of 10-40 yards. A shot taken at greater than 40 yards is considered a very difficult long shot. Furthermore, the nature of bow hunting, especially as it relates to deer hunting, dictates that hunters must pursue their quarry in relatively thick cover, in order to get within the above-mentioned range of the game animals. Since hunting from the ground has inherent disadvantages, i.e., game can readily scent humans on the ground, and because of the limited visibility at ground level, the portable tree stand became ideal for the bow hunter wishing to gain a height and scent advantage over wilely game animals such as deer.
Even though such stands have met with widespread commercial success, and especially among bow hunters, nonetheless these portable types of hunting tree stands have an inherent disadvantage in that a hunter seated atop such a stand must continually hold his hunting bow in his hands. Such stands are not equipped with any means for hanging or resting the hunting bow. Oftentimes it is desirable for the hunter to glass his surroundings with binoculars, or to estimate the range to potential shot openings in the brush with a range finder. However, this requires, normally, the use of both hands to operate the pair of binoculars or the range finder. Since deer hunting from a stand ordinarily requires a hunter to spend many long hours on the stand in order to increase his odds of seeing game, it is common for hunters to bring thermoses of coffee, lunches and the like to the stand. Handling of these items likewise normally requires both hands, which is very difficult because the hunter must continually clutch his bow.